Changing from Gaslow to what?

[whitebeach]

Hi,

My old motorhome has a Gaslow system and have been told it needs 2 new tanks = 440 quid! What other system of gas tanks is cheaper and maybe better than this. (seems in Scotland there are very few gaslow filling stations).

 

[starquake]

Depends how much gas you going to use, £440 is quite cheap if you use a lot, when compared with a Flogas or Calor cylinder swap service.

In our case we've worked out with our (admitted high) use of a motorhome, Gaslow is about 30-50% the price of refillable, and yes, it is difficult to fill, but is offset by it holding 2 times the volume we coul dget with Calor?Flogas, so we need to fill half as much.

If you only use your van on EHU and never do offgridding, chances are a Flogas cylinder swap would be cheaper in 10 years. (the Gaslow cylinders or any cylinders only last for 10 years of use before requiring replacement which is sounds like you in position of now).

I would say at moment we run with one Calor and one Flogas cylinder, and are replacing as soon as they run out this winter with a Gaslow refillable setup. Per swap of Calor at moment it's about £35, and £31 for Flogas.

 

[Neil S]

Hi,

My old motorhome has a Gaslow system and have been told it needs 2 new tanks = 440 quid! What other system of gas tanks is cheaper and maybe better than this. (seems in Scotland there are very few gaslow filling stations).

myLPG.eu website lists available LPG outlets across the UK
Gaslow , Gasit , Safefill , Gasbank , Alugas are the only refillable systems

 

[hja]

We usually fill up on our travels rather than where we live.

 

[lorger]

Can you not get them retested, I know it was something you could do a few years ago.

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[meanders]

Does the OP mean (underslung) tanks or cylinders? Tanks have a higher install cost.

11kg Gaslow cylinders are about £200 each so £440 for two including fitting would seem about right. All the others except Alugas are in the same ballpark price wise. The Alugas are almost double that price but do a make a significant saving on payload if that's an issue. (About 15kg saving for two empty 11kg cylinders.)

 

[Guigsy]

If you're not a heavy user and you're not doing long trips abroad, just slinging in couple of Calors is cheaper. At least in the short term.

Note that you might lose a lot of capacity. My German van can take a pair of European 11kg cylinders (like Gaslow). But the British sized Calor 13kg is too girthy, so I'd only get a pair of 6kg Calors in there.

 

[meanders]

To be fair we always had more fretting both here and abroad when relying on Calor cylinders, than we have ever had with inability to refill. We always start looking for a fill up point when switching to the second cylinder. The LPG refil places are open whenever the fuel station is. Getting a replacement Calor on a Sunday/Bank Holiday can be a real PITA plus the fear of running out overseas and having to buy a cylinder and pigtail.

 

[enark]

Couple of calor bottles are going to cost you over £100 unless you have empties to exchange.

So maybe get one new gaslow

 

[Manic]

Can you not get them retested, I know it was something you could do a few years ago.

Gaslow no longer retest but give a discount on bottles and any accessories you buy when trading old bottles in but you can buy them cheaper elsewhere.

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[Guigsy]

To be fair we always had more fretting both here and abroad when relying on Calor cylinders, than we have ever had with inability to refill. We always start looking for a fill up point when switching to the second cylinder. The LPG refil places are open whenever the fuel station is. Getting a replacement Calor on a Sunday/Bank Holiday can be a real PITA plus the fear of running out overseas and having to buy a cylinder and pigtail.

Agreed. We ran a pair of 6kg Calors before. Every time you swap a Calor, you lose whatever was left. So we had the dilemma wherever we went away as to whether to swap a half filled cylinder. Now we've got a single 11kg Gaslow, we've got slightly less capacity, but I can refill it whenever I want without wasting money, so there's no dilemma, just top it up whenever is convenient. Overall it's less faff, although I do live only a mile from a gas refill station.

 

[meanders]

Has anyone tried using https://centralcylindertesting.com/accreditations/?

 

[Landy Andy]

If you have the Gaslow fitted and it the cylinders need replacing due to date. Just buy two new cylinders. The rest of the system remains.

 

[whitebeach]

Can you not get them retested, I know it was something you could do a few years ago.

Apparently cheaper to buy new ones than get retested.

 

[Guigsy]

Apparently cheaper to buy new ones than get retested.

And if you test and they are end of life, you might have to pay for new on top.

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[MichaelT]

They have 10 year life then need re testing or renewing. Speak to Basildog as I think there is some sort of trade in deal for this.

 

[enark]

Gaslow R67 11kg Refillable Cylinder 1 with Level Gauge

The Gaslow R67 11kg Refillable Cylinder 1 is especially designed to meet the French R67 Gas Tank Standards. Gaslow have always held the view that the Gaslow Bottles are considered as "Cylinders" and therefore they are manfacturered to the cylinder standard EN1442:2006. Gaslow were not just alone...

www.gasproducts.co.uk

Only £199 for a brand new bottle. You may need new hoses too though?

 

[irnbru]

Hi,

My old motorhome has a Gaslow system and have been told it needs 2 new tanks = 440 quid! What other system of gas tanks is cheaper and maybe better than this. (seems in Scotland there are very few gaslow filling stations).

Hi and welcome to fun. Maybe it depends on where you live , what location are you roughly ? We haven't found much of a problem getting LPG in Scotland, especially in the central belt.

 

[Dave and Jen]

If you have the Gaslow fitted and it the cylinders need replacing due to date. Just buy two new cylinders. The rest of the system remains.

Hoses and regulators will need replacing too depending on age.
Cheers, Dave

 

[Nirvanauk]

Hi,

My old motorhome has a Gaslow system and have been told it needs 2 new tanks = 440 quid! What other system of gas tanks is cheaper and maybe better than this. (seems in Scotland there are very few gaslow filling stations).

I’ve just had my underslung replaced at 10 years at a cost of £1100. So your £440 seems cheap.

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[Minxy]

Can you not get them retested, I know it was something you could do a few years ago.

We swapped our 15 year old Gaslow cylinder for a tested and recertified old style Gaslow cylinder from Gaslow, I think it was the last one of these recertified ones they sold as the cost and hassle of testing just made it unviable.

Gaslow no longer retest but give a discount on bottles and any accessories you buy when trading old bottles in but you can buy them cheaper elsewhere.

That's what we found, we could've got the discount on a new one but it didn't make financial sense so, as we were fortunate to get a retested one it only cost us £99 and has a 10 year life span (not 15 years as the original Gaslow ones were).

 

[Minxy]

I’ve just had my underslung replaced at 10 years at a cost of £1100. So your £440 seems cheap.

Strewth! I'm definitely sticking with cylinders - our original one bought in 2009 had been moved from one MH to another several times, can't do that with a tank.

 

[dunnah01]

Surely some competent person can risk assess a 10 year old refillable in a cozy locker and pristine paint job against a rusty old underslung covered in all sorts of European road kill and recertify for a few years

 

[Basildog]

They have 10 year life then need re testing or renewing. Speak to Basildog as I think there is some sort of trade in deal for this.

Unfortunately there is no testing facility in the uk that will deal with a few refillable cylinders, if you had thousands it would be a viable option.
We will try to offer a discount to those replacing cylinders / tanks when possible.

 

[Minxy]

Surely some competent person can risk assess a 10 year old refillable in a cozy locker and pristine paint job against a rusty old underslung covered in all sorts of European road kill and recertify for a few years

It's not as simple as that, they have to remove the valve etc, do an internal inspection then fit a new valve etc, pressure test it and put their reputation behind it being safe to use ... they don't just give it a bang with a spanner and see if it 'rings'!

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[Basildog]

Surely some competent person can risk assess a 10 year old refillable in a cozy locker and pristine paint job against a rusty old underslung covered in all sorts of European road kill and recertify for a few years

Even if it were possible it wouldn’t be cost effective in most cases , valves need removing and replacing with new , we have just priced up a new cordless driver for valving , £13000,00 + vat not including an air balancer to suspend it from
Most vehicles aren’t even designed to last for 10 years now

 

[dunnah01]

Even if it were possible it wouldn’t be cost effective in most cases , valves need removing and replacing with new , we have just priced up a new cordless driver for valving , £13000,00 + vat not including an air balancer to suspend it from
Most vehicles aren’t even designed to last for 10 years now

But do the cylinders have any significant internal corrosion compared to the outside and do the valves self destruct after 10.0001 years
How many cylinders in cozy lockers have ever failed beyond the 10 years compared to the calor type cylinders that get thrown around every petrol station or underslungs that get a good dose of road salt every year?

 

[Basildog]

But do the cylinders have any significant internal corrosion compared to the outside and do the valves self destruct after 10.0001 years
How many cylinders in cozy lockers have ever failed beyond the 10 years compared to the calor type cylinders that get thrown around every petrol station or underslungs that get a good dose of road salt every year?

I can only follow the industry accepted standards and manufacturers advice, that is to replace most hoses , regulators and valves, tanks , cylinders etc @ 10 years.
Think yourself lucky we have to have all our work equipment inspected every 6 months then on top of that serviced , even the air extraction equipment has to be certified annually, today was fire extinguishers , next week is intruder alarm system inspection.
I personally think it should be mandatory to have gas and electrical inspections on all leisure vehicles along with certification of all self built / modified vans .